Central Kansas Library System

In his acclaimed debut novel, Durham adds a new dimension to the frontier narrative. Gabriel, the teenaged son of an emancipated slave, travels west with his mother, who is lured by the promise of unclaimed land. Despising life as a farmer, Gabriel runs away with a dangerous band of cowboys. But hindered by youth and inexperience, he must escape the racism and brutality that surround him.

Four men--Jess Donner, a Rebel and Southern gentleman; Steve Ellsworth, a ladies man with a foul temper; Stu Wilkens, a Yankee; and Heck Myers, a teller of tall tales--find their friendship sorely tested by a dance hall girl and a gang of outlaws. The four friends have traveled to Dodge City to rest their saddle-weary bodies, but trouble erupts between them and some less than reputable characters over the attentions of a dance hall girl. If the boys...

USA Today best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee Ralph Cotton tells an 1865 tale of a Kansas woman victimized by murderous marauders. As Julie Wilder races to greet her father, she sees his ashen face and fixed stare too late to escape the hooded nightriders who suddenly surround her. When bounty hunter Baines Meredith discovers her the next day-battered, bleeding, and barely alive-he covers her nakedness and gently cares for her. But can...

A towering legend among chroniclers of the Old West, Ralph Compton penned searing tales of the highest entertainment. In this fast-paced actioner, Detective Sergeant John McBride gets while the gettin's good when a New York gangster puts a price on his head. But after landing in High Hopes, Colorado, McBride quickly finds that his troubles with the criminal sect are just beginning.

"Lawrence Shaw is known as the fastest gun alive--and it's no exaggeration. But after he guns down thieves and recovers a fortune in stolen gold at Fire River, being the fastest may not be enough. Garris 'the Cat' Cantro and his Border Dogs are more than thieves. They're an army--remnants of the Confederacy who will fight, steal, and kill to the last man. And with so much gold to be had, they'll spill the blood of anyone who stands against them. That's...

The son of a prosperous Arizona rancher, Boone Scott is content to raise cattle for the rest of his days. Not his brother, Eppley. Dangerously dissatisfied, he plots to take over the family ranch. When Epp pays an assassin to kill him, Boone's lightning-quick hands leave a fistful of dead men behind. Unaware of his brother's treachery, Boone flees and faces danger from hired gunmen, rustlers, and wild Apaches. If he can survive, he just might come...

In the lawless West, Frank Morgan is the type of man you want on your side in a fight. But when he ventures into town--trouble always seems to find him. And now, treachery abounds as oil drillers encroach on local ranches, and violence erupts at every turn.

When Laura's sister, Carissa, marries her Confederate beau, Laura finds herself in a difficult situation when she overhears plots to kill Union soldiers. Though in her heart she feels she should share this information with Union officer -- and -- romantic interest Brandon Reid, Laura fears she will betray her sister's trust and possibly endanger her sister's life.

The life of a cowboy suits Thalis Christie just fine. A puncher for the Crescent H in Texas, he loves what he does and is damn good at it too. He doesn't even mind being away from his family -- he's got good friends to keep him from getting too homesick. That is, until his folks write, imploring him to hunt down his brother, Myles, who's been shot while prospecting in the Black Hills. Thalis sets out to do his family duty and find his little brother...

There's trouble on the trail drive in this Ralph Compton western... Chancy Gantry and Ollie Teal are honest cowpunchers, riding herd on fifteen hundred longhorns from Texas to Kansas. Their trail boss, Lucas Stout, is tough but fair. He's never lost a hand on a drive and doesn't aim to start now. So when a cowhand needs a sawbones bad, Stout sends Chancy and Ollie to escort the man to a town called Prosperity, which none of them has ever heard of....